Team India lost the 4th ODI against New Zealand played at Ranchi by 19 runs. Once what seemed to be an easy run chase for India became difficult after the fall of wickets of experienced players- Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.

The unexperienced batting line-up got exposed in front of the Kiwi bowlers second time in the series chasing a decent total.

Whereas, the Indian captain MS Dhoni do believe that matches like these can be a good learning curve for youngsters and will only make them better.

In the post match conference, Dhoni said, “It’s important they get games like these and finally they’ll figure out a way what suits them best to chase down a total like this.”

“Unless they get an opportunity like this it will be very difficult because that’s how you get experience. You can learn a lot by watching but ultimately when you feel the pressure and go through that motion, that’s where you learn a lot. It will be a good learning curve for them. Give them some time,” Dhoni added, backing his batsmen.

Dhoni also mentioned that not playing enough ODI’s didn’t help India’s cause either. “If you see the last one to one and a half years, we haven’t played a lot of ODI cricket,” he said.

When asked about India’s over-reliance on Virat Kohli, Dhoni said “In between we had Zimbabwe, we had three games so. I can say that the stats actually don’t reflect the exact scenario because also in that period I have batted at a different position and our top order was batting brilliantly. So everything is very different. Just in this series, if you see, there have been a couple of games where the wicket was on the slower side.”

“It’s when the wickets are slow and when the required run rate is not high, you calculate and at times you play out a few overs thinking if you have a partnership at this moment, with more wickets in hand in the last few overs, you can look to chase down something that’s even seven to seven and a half runs per over. We have got quite a few batsmen who can do the job. It’s just that we have to give them more time. Batting down the order is one of the toughest things to do. You don’t get a player who’s complete, who bats at No. 5, 6 or 7, all the time,” Dhoni concluded.